Saturday, August 2, 2008

The new hard cover version of Heavy Liquid is in stores Sept. 24th 2008-- completely redesigned in 2 solid pantone colors. Overtime, I have come to believe the colors in the original version are a bit garish and hard on the eye--so I've picked a red/blue pairing which leans more to the somber side. The results look much better, I think--more artfilm than blacklight poster. Based closely on the French edition which debuted earlier this year from Dargaud, this new format including 12 pages of additional material--developmental sketches and other unpublished "ramp-up" drawings.

If I could re-do only one thing in this story (there is more than one thing I'd do differently now, but if I had to pick just one), I would re-set the date for this science fiction tale in the year 2038, making it consistent with my other DC/Vertigo books, 100% and Batman:Year 100. Heavy Liquid is set in the year 2075, which I somewhat arbitrarily chose without much serious consideration. The technologies shown in the story seem reasonable for a view into the world of the next few decades, and not much more. As it stands, I doubt anyone can imagine how vastly different the world of 2075 will be, and when I read articles like this, I feel rather pessimistic trying.